NCAA Basketball: 25 best team rivalries heading into 2019-20 season

5. Kansas Jayhawks vs. Kansas State Wildcats

There are many great teams in the Big 12 every year, though no two in the conference can be compared to the rivalry between Kansas and Kansas State.

These teams have played regularly for over 100 years, though these games have favored the Jayhawks in recent memory. Regardless, anytime these two teams play, these fanbases are energized, though perhaps more so in Manhattan.

Playing yearly since 1915, the Jayhawks hold the commanding 197-94 advantage in the rivalry. These were two evenly matched programs back in the 1970s and 1980s, but the arrival of Roy Williams and then Bill Self at Kansas have greatly changed the momentum.

Between 1994 and 2006, the Jayhawks ran off 31 straight wins against the Wildcats. Kansas State hasn’t won consecutive games against Kansas since 1994. Three of the last matchups have been Kansas wins by 14 points or more.

So how exactly did the tide turn in this rivalry? In 1988, the two teams met up in the Elite Eight, where No. 6-seeded Kansas knocked off the No. 4-seeded Wildcats 71-58 en route to the national championship a week later.

That was the fourth meeting that season between these two teams and Kansas saved their best performance for when it mattered the most. Of course, there have been other memorable moments.

There were epic battles between Danny Manning and Mitch Richmond, or the quadruple-overtime thriller in 1962 or the two big Kansas wins in 2010 when both teams were ranked in the top 10.

Kansas hasn’t missed the NCAA Tournament in 30 years and will continue to be a national championship threat annually. Things at Kansas State have been less steady, though head coach Bruce Weber put together some solid teams these last two seasons. The rivalry remains heated and ignited, but is Kansas just going to keep rolling?